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Separate But Equal?

Glen Cook

G A Cook
Site Benefactor
Can someone answer what the difference between PHA and State GL is ? I guess im a little lost. I thought both practiced the same freemasonry. Is anything different ?

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This will be a somewhat oblique answer: there are differences in all jurisdictions that can run deeper than ritual. Even between provinces in England there are such.
 

Dontrell Stroman

Premium Member
This will be a somewhat oblique answer: there are differences in all jurisdictions that can run deeper than ritual. Even between provinces in England there are such.
That is what I was getting at. I really dont know the difference espically when each Jurisdiction does something a little different regardless if its PHA or GL of State
 

Brother JC

Moderating Staff
Staff Member
Umm, yeah. I have seen some posts where the Laying on of Hands was performed at a Masonic meeting.
I was heard a sitting GM, while opening a constituent lodge, ask his home lodge Chaplain to "get us started with a good old Baptist prayer!"
But that's a whole other discussion.
 

Brother JC

Moderating Staff
Staff Member
Im being serious. Other than maybe culture, what is the difference? I have always said masonry is masonry (Meaning regular lodges)
I was fortunate enough to be Raised in a state that already had full recognition. At my first GL Communication I met and sat with the PHA GM. To me, the PHAGLNM has always been a group of Brothers with a different, but equal, lineage. Just like every other Grand Lodge.
 

Dontrell Stroman

Premium Member
I have a bone to pick. If certian southern GLS dont allow blacks to join their GL and they belive PHA lodges are bogus and clandestine, why do they tell blacks to go check out PHA lodges. If you believe a lodge or GL isnt legit why would you send somone there ?

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Dontrell Stroman

Premium Member
I was fortunate enough to be Raised in a state that already had full recognition. At my first GL Communication I met and sat with the PHA GM. To me, the PHAGLNM has always been a group of Brothers with a different, but equal, lineage. Just like every other Grand Lodge.
In your opinion, what was different ?
 

goomba

Neo-Antient
Site Benefactor
PHA GL of BLANK is just another jurisdiction to me. No different than UGLE or any other grand lodge that is not mine. It's just a different jurisdiction that my brothers belong to because that is the grand lodge they joined.

Even when I was in a grand lodge that didn't recognize PHA I considered them my brothers! All regular Masons are our brothers regardless of what grand lodge they belong to. I am opposed to the idea of a merger as each grand lodge has their own rich history. Plus it is a constant reminder that even in the face of hate our craft was able to overcome human ignorance to spread the light of Freemasonry.
 

dfreybur

Premium Member
In your opinion, what was different ?

For ritual the differences are about the same as between any two. Open book or not. Cipher or written mostly out or not. A sentence added here or subtracted there. Scenes added or subtracted from the third degree. The usual wildly different rod work. Lodges being fussy about good ritual versus lodges just getting it done to get candidates through.

For other rules and traditions, similar. Single membership versus allowing as many memberships as you can afford. Limited number of visits before requiring a petition versus forever visiting. Gift honorary memberships or not under assorted names. Grand line advancing every year, every 2 years, not advancing. Wide variety in recognition lists.

That's in the 3 pairs I have attended. As more get visited I figure the list would get longer but stabilize.
 

SimonM

Registered User
So what you should do is give the potential candidate a list of nearby lodges, both PHA and GLS, and help him understand the style and intrest of the different lodges (observant, etc)?
 
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